the other guy, whoever it ends up being, will have to be tough, tough enough and convincing enough to take it away from a very tough guy. as always, it's great to be back right here on "hardball" full-time. that is "hardball" for now, the ed show with ed schultz starts right now. good evening american welcome to the ed show, the mitt romney campaign released a commercial bragging about his record at bain capital. i'll show you why he shouldn't be bragging at all. this is the ed show, let's get to work. still is not prepared to release any documents from bain to prove anything. >> newt keeps kitihitting harde the romney response is pathetic. >> whether he created jobs is fair game, do you agree with that? >> you know, with all due respect to mr. gingrich, no. >> just when you thought rick

perry couldn't get any dumber, he screws up the third thing again. >> commerce, education and the -- what's the third one? >> the drum beat for romney to release his taxes is building. >> let's get it out there. >> huffington post's sam stein on the chaos in carolina. stephen colbert joke run is exposing the joke that citizens united. bernie sanders is here tonight. >> now that i have the super pac -- can i run as supporting stephen colbert? >> yes, you can as long as you do not coordinate. >> good to have you with us tonight, thanks for watching, republicans and democrats spent the week hammering mitt romney for his record at bain capital. today the obama campaign got in on the action and we'll have more on that coming up in the program. i've said all week romney is going to have to come clean with the american people and talk about his record at bain. romney's campaign thinks this

television ad is an adequate response. >> this is the business mitt romney helped start. and this one. and this steel mill. mitt romney helped create and ran a company that invested in struggling businesses. grew new ones and rebuilt old ones. creating thousands of jobs. those are the facts. >> all right, if romney wants to talk about facts, we could talk about facts. let's start with the facts surrounding this company, steel dynamics. it was back in 1994 bain put more than $18 million in the company to become the largest us equity holder. five years later, bain sold the stake for $104 million. they made a cool profit of more than $85 million. the indiana company still employs more than 6,000 workers. now, here are someampaign is le out. according to the l.a. times, steele dynamics also received generous tax breaks and other subsidiesofndiana and the resid

dekalb county. the raw numbers are this. the state and county ponied up $37 million in subsidies and grants for the project. county residents were hit with a new income tax to help pay for it all. bain capital made a profit on steel dynamics thanks to subsidies and tax breaks from the government. meanwhile, mitt romney is going across the country saying the government does not create jobs. >> fundamentally what happens in america that creates jobs is not government. it has its role, but by and large it gets in the way of creating job. >> seems like steel dynamics created thousands of jobs after getting money from the government. it also went to his pockets. romney says the government and president obama shouldn't be picking winners or losers. >> because the government's chosen their favorite, so as a result of what he did he not only wasted government money, he made it more difficult for entrepreneurs and innovators to

come up with new ideas in the future. this president doesn't understand how this economy works, it's time to get a president who does. >> bain capital was picking a winner when it decided to build the steel mill in dekalb county, indiana where taxpayers paid for a good chunk of it. mitt romney is vilifying the president of the united states on the campaign trail saying he doesn't understand the economy. >> when he took office, the economy was in recession. he made it worse. he made it last longer. i look at this president, realized he doesn't know what has to be done to get this country on track again. this president wakes up every morning looks across america and is proud to announce it could be worse. >> i want to go back to something that the right wing talkers continually brought up during the clinton impeachment years, back in the 90s, when h president clinton was dealing with his issues. they said character counts. really? that what is limbaugh used to say all the time, character counts.

this is a character issue for mitt romney. he pretends to talk like a tea party conservative but he's been really at the trough, hasn't he? romney is nothing but a corporate welfare hog if you look at the facts. you mean to tell me that romney didn't know about the tax breaks and the subsidies that steel dynamics was getting? he didn't know the semantics of the deal and the dichotomy of it all? come on. how can a tea party ever support this guy? one of the reasons mitt romney got rich is because taxes and government programs helped his investments. and i think a lot of americans will come to the conclusion that he's nothing but a phony. but what will happen in november and we have a long slog, a lot of stories with bain capital and how mitt romney made his millions. what it will come down to is the american people will render judgment before election day. do we accept any kind of ethics or morals in business or is this just the way business is? we could crap all over workers,

we could distort the facts on television all the time with campaign commercials, to make people think that he was really out there creating jobs, but then again we don't have any hard numbers how many jobs he actually created. but we do know the people who are interviewed about losing their job, losing their pension and seeing jobs shipped overseas, i hope the obama administration jumps all over this. because there is a real story to be told. we are at a crucial intersection in this country, do we value workers? i can render personal judgment i don't think mitt romney knows anything about workers in this country, he only knows about profit. he wasn't there to create jobs, he was there to create wealth. he comes from the financial sector. i'm joined by robert rice, secretary of labor, author of the book "after shock" great to have you with us, mr. secretary. is it accurate to say bain capital accepted corporate welfare based on this story?

>> of course bain capital accepted corporate welfare. bain capital probably wouldn't have made the investment in steel dynamics had it not been for the big corporate capital and welfare that came from the state of indiana. the state offered it in order to entice bain capital into making the investment bain capital did. this is the most common and in a sense the worst among the worst forms of corporate welfare because it doesn't create new jobs. if every state is competing against every other state for the same steel plant, basically it's taxpayers in one state vying against taxpayers in another state. this is money that went into mitt romney's pockets, bain capitalism, bain capitalism is not product capitalism it's financial capitalism. moving money, getting as much money out of the public sector as possible. >> mr. reich, doesn't this make him an enemy to the tea party

that companies would be getting taxpayer dollars, wouldn't this run up the deficit and the debt? what is this about? >> if there were logic to tea party ideoology and consist deny s -- consistency, yes. he was using state tax dollars as governor to lure companies from other states in massachusetts. whether he was the head of bain capital and pocketing the money or governor of massachusetts and doling out welfare, it's the same it has little to do with producing real products and services. >> what is the economy danger of a romney presidency? if this is where he came from, you can only imagine about what kind of laws he would be in favor of having passed by his fellows in the house and the senate. he would obviously have some real corporate friends at the front door saying "do this" how

dangerous could this be, how much could it take us in the middle class? >> deep in financial capitalism, ed. what we have really got to understand and the republicans i never thought i would hear it from newt gingrich and perry and other republicans, they are beginning to articulate is what a lot of democrats have said all along, financial capitalism isn't real capitalism. it doesn't create new jobs, it doesn't put people to work, it actually ends up reducing the number of jobs. it displaces people, puts risks on people, it lowers wages. financial capitalism is what we've had in the country for the last two or three decades, all centered on wall street, not about making good jobs with good wages and making things. >> mr. reich, romney's response, that ad we played a moment ago, that is a good response, is he going to be able to get this off to the side of the road or is this going to dog him throughout

the entire campaign? >> well i think we'll find out more and more about bain capitalism, ed. my prediction is that where bain capitalism ultimately leads, whether you want to call it leverabled buy outs or private equity management, where it leads is to the heart of financial, to the heart of wall street, to the heart of what's happened to the american economy, no longer produces things and money and the movement of money and financial transactions that benefit a very few people who are cluesered around the financial industry. this what is we will learn, there is a very important distinction between bain capitalism, financial capitalism and real capitalism. >> ought to be a softball for the obama campaign. robert reich, thank you so much. >> the obama campaign weighs in. mitt romney was a corporate raider who closed plants and laid off american workers.

sam stein of the huffington post will give us details on south carolina. our panel will join me, professor caroline heldman is here we will be right back. insu. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays]

coming up the obama campaign gets did you have on mitt romney's record of job creation. jonathan alter joins me next in the conversation. liz cheney is fitting in just fine over at fox news, her comments about president barack obama's military policy put her in the zone tonight. steven colbert makes his run oh fe official. bernie sanders on campaign financing and citizens united later in the hour. share your thoughts on twitter #edshow. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar.

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welcome back to the ed show. the obama campaign has a simple take on the bain cap i couldnn verse see. the republicans are spot on. stephanie cutter released a memo about mitt romney's time at bain. here are some of the highlights. romney closed over 1000 plants, stores and offices, and cut employee wages, benefits and pensions. he laid off american workers and outsourced their jobs to other countries. free enterprise isn't running for president, mitt romney is. mitt romney and his friends made money hand over fist while working families lost their grip on the middle class life style they earned.

between now and november the american people will decide whether to respond to the crisis by electing a corporate raider, who profited from and promises to restore the conditions that caused it. pretty strong stuff. let's bring in jonathan alter, msnbc political analyst and columnist for bloomberg, view. >> it's campaign on, now. >> it's interesting, jonathan, this week i think newt gingrich filed off a few edges and using different terminology and not as aggressive, although his ads are, but on the stump it's different. what do you make of the obama team? >> they expected to do this later, but the republicans gave them an opening to pile on now and to draw on that blank slate. in politicians, a hot is about drawing on the blank slate before the other guy. most people don't know really anything about mitt romney.

most people are not watching all these cable shows, paying attention to the iowa caucuses, so if they can essentially characterize him in a certain way and go after his strength, this is what romney brought up, that he was the job creator, and the problem with it as an argument for romney, it's not true. as you said before the aim of bain capital was to create wealth, not to create jobs. and they need to make sure that even though people don't understand the complexities, they need to get to the fundamenta fundamentals. >> the conservatives do a great job of messages, they went after john kerry, massachusetts liberal. tax cuts, private accounts, that kind of stuff. here comes the obama team and i love it, corporate raider. they are putting that label on him. is it going to be effective?

>> i think it will be. politics at the moment elemental level is stigmatizing the other guy. they have been very bad at that kind of thing in the last several elections, republicans are much better at playing pin the tail on the donkey, than democrats are at this kind of cut and thrust, it's very important that moving forward the democrats bring up their game and this is a sign that they might be able to do so. >> newt gingrich said today about his own super pac. >> i'm calling on the super pac, i cannot coordinate with them, i can't communicate directly, but i can speak out as a citizen talking to you, i'm calling to edit out every single mistake, or to pull the entire film, but not run the film if it has errors in it, i think we ought to have somebody who wants to be president ought to have the courage to stand up for the truth and ought to be prepared

to -- >> interesting move by gingrich, because we had the producer on here the other night it's all vetted. it's all correct and now he's saying if it's wrong pull it out. what do you make of that? >> that is the blow-back in the republican party. he's taking a lot of in-coming for doing this, because he's doing the work of the democrats, republicans are furious about it. in the process what is happening, which is great, the american public is getting an education in what you called vulture capitalism. romney was just about to get away with the idea that he was like thomas edison or steve jobs, he was creating all these jobs and instead what he was doing was sucking capital out of the workplace, transferring wealth from workers to bankers. essentially all he is is a banker.

lending money is not the same thing as creating jobs by inventing a new product. >> what is the toll? what is the toll he could pay in the long run on this if this story sticks? >> well, i think this could doom him in the fall or at least if the unemployment rate goes back up again, none of this will save barack obama, but in a close race, which it looks like it will still be, this is extremely important in getting obama over the finish line that romney is st stigmatized. >> do you think he has answered to the attacks well? >> no. >> romney is struggling with this. >> he is struggling. there is an argument this inoculates him, gives him a chance, spring training, you get to learn how to deal with it. that is a position they will

have a wounded candidate. >> great to have you with us. next in psycho talk, brand new fox contributor liz cheney says president obama is decimating the military. the joint chief of staff says the president is doing what is best for america. shooter's daughter back in the zone. did rick perry call on this man enequin in south carolina? we'll check with the panel, stay tuned. so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good?

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it's psycho talk tonight, liz cheney signed on as a fox news contributor, and she is hitting the ground running hitting the high notes. this morning on fox and friends, cheney hammered president obama for his proposal to cut military spending. >> what president obama is doing is something that america's enemies, the taliban, al qaeda, have been unable to do, which is to decimate the fighting capability of the nation. and when you look at his rhetoric, he talks about the need now that hostilities are over to cut our spending, as thougher we are no longer at war. i think it's irresponsible and i think it will be difficult for him to convince the american people they ought to reelect a president who is so decimating our military capacity. >> she will probably get a raise. liz cheney's knee-jerk anti-obama reaction directly contradicts military experts like the chairman of the join

chiefs of staff, general martin dempsey. >> we are in the military are not being victimized by this budget issue. there are some out there speaking about it in those terms but as i mentioned to you earlier, we clearly have a role to play, all of us, as citizens in addressing the economic crisis. this is something the joint chiefs have embraced as what is best for america. >> the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff say the cuts are what is best for america. li liz cheney, her old man did damage leading us in a war based on false intelligence. they were stretched so thin troops had to return for three or four tours of duty, not to mention the men and women who lost their lives. the estimated $60 billion lost waste, fraud and abuse, but liz

cheney thinks president obama is the one destroying the military? she will fit in good at fox news as an employee with that kind of outrageous psycho talk. i assume there's complicated paperwork to be executed before we transfer the reins of power as something of critical as super pac? >> i brought the one document with me. >> it takes a comedian to point out the joke about the citizens united ruling? bernie sanders on stephen colbert is coming up. in south carolina, even rick santorum is pooling on mitt romney. piling on. >> he worked at bain capital, that don't necessarily mean he should run for president. >> the panel on the latest chaos in carolina is next.

i'm pretty happy to show my

record of job creation, actually, my job creation record in the private sector has created more jobs than president obama has created in the entire country. >> really? give us the number. welcome back to the ed show. in the playbook, mitt romney has made some pretty incredible claims when it comes to his experience as a so-called job creator at bain capital. romney says bain created 100,000 jobs. we have yet to see the evidence supporting that assertion. well, south carolina governor nikki haley, a romney surrogate says romney doesn't need to back that claim up. >> because the governor's record whether or not he created 100,000 job, net, net, net, is fair game, do you agree with that? >> you know, with all due respect to mr. gingrich, no. i mean --. >> it's not fair? >> well, i think what you have to understand is what does the private sector do? i come from a business background. i know when times are tough we

have to make hard decisions, we never want to let people go, and when times are good, we love to expand and love to hire people. >> i'm joined by huffington post political reporter sam stein. that wasn't the question. give me the number. this is going to be a tough one for romney? >> i hadn't seen that clip. of course it's a tough one they're asking for specific details, when you get in that you get in the stories of the companies, and when you get in the stories of the companies, there will be successes and sob tail -- tales. >> doesn't he run the risk of throwing out a number and not being able to back it up? >> they had the same problem in the 94 campaign against ted kennedy as well as gubernatorial campaign in 2002. if they put out a number it invites back checking, they don't want that evidence. >> he won't release his taxes, sam. how much of a problem will this be for him? >> it's a big problem. it's one of these things as a reporter, it drives me crazy.

everyone should be advocating for transparency in this profession. every president back to i believe it was nixon has done this, or presidential candidate. he opened up the possibility he'll do it once in office, what does that that do? maybe he has offshore money, lower rates. >> isn't the question now is if he is not going to release the taxes are you paying any tax at all, yes or no? >> i think that is perfectly fair to ask those questions because if he's not going to meet the voters halfway or reporters halfway on that, then we have to guess. >> the latest from public policy polling shows gingrich gaining ground on romney, the numbers romney at 29%, gingrich is sitting at 24. ron paul at 15. interestingly enough, santorum is stagnant. >> total nose dive, not just stagnant, he dipped five points,

you think south carolina, people don't care about social issues, south carolina has been hit hard by the economy. foreclosure crisis, that is why romney is holding steady, will be interesting to see what the bain --. >> 58% of south carolina primary voters do not want mitt romney to be the nominee. >> been like that for every contest it has been like that, yet because this field is divided in five not-romneys, not one can get enough support to beat him. >> sam, good to have you with us. bring in dr. james peterson director of africana studies at lehigh university. caroline heldman at objection i dental college, mike papantonio, great to have all of you with us. mike, you were in south carolina recently, what do you make of these poll numbers, santorum slipping and newt making a gain and romney seems to be holding steady. what did you find out down there? >> well predictable, gingrich is -- it's chaotic, it's

absolutely chaotic, but mitt romney is the guy that he might be holding steady right now but this is having an effect on. everyday there is a new story, ed. the new stories are coming out. the latest story along with the story about the steel company that you talked about, where his pals went and raided a company called world wide grinding in kansas city, laid off 750 workers, they lost their jobs, left taxpayers having to pay $44 million in pension plans, taxpayers ended up paying that. mitt made promises to the people they would have a severance package, health care protection, and as soon as he locked the doors, he took that away from them. mitt came away with $12 million he nut an offshore bank. these stories are emerging every day. >> you know he put it in an offshore bank? >> i got to tell you, it would be my guess, it would be my guess on everything i'm hear about this story. the reason the man will not

release his records, the reason we can't get the story from mitt is because a good reporter can find this. a good reporter needs some of that material. so he's fighting it desperately. i don't think he's in as good a shape as he thinks he is in south carolina. >> professor heldman what is the down side for republicans to get answers out of their leading man in the polls which is mitt romney right now? i'm talking about releasing taxes and also his business practices at bain. he has yet to justify the 100,000 jobs he claims he created. why aren't the republicans going after him more on that? >> well, i think because this is something that would bloody the party. he seems to be the inevitable choice, anything at this point will weaken the party, you see party officials say pull back. i think what we will find is that he opened this pan dora's box by saying he created job, the role of a venture capitalist is not to create jobs, even when

a company is profitable, if it's more profitable to break it up and lay people off they will do this. the idea he was a job creator, that wasn't his role, touting 100,000 jobs was a bad move on his move on his part. >> romney's super pac came out with an ad hitting santorum on ear marks. is santorum still a threat to him now that he dropped down to 14%, are are the social conservatives rally behind him? >> i don't think santorum is a threat. this is like political maneuvering on the part of the romney campaign. he needs santorum and gingrich to be in the fight because it helps keep the republican base fragmented. so he wants them all to be involved. he'll attack one here and there, just to insure that he keeps them in the fight, because as long as the republican base is fragmented, romney can maintain a 25%. >> here what is rick santorum had to say about mitt romney

today. here it it is. >> his work at bain capital, i believe in capitalism, i believe in free enterprise, private equity firms are an important part, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should run for president. >> mike, there is something to that argument? what do you make of it? >> i think santorum right now is in a situation that we said he was going to be a week ago, that is nothing that happened in iowa converted to anything meaningful for santorum. he's staggering, nothing really changes, it has not converted in excitement for the campaign, raised $2 or $3 million after that. he's going in florida an under dog, i think he's not long for the world, frankly, this is down to a three-man race, larry, moe and curly right now. >> you can't have it both ways. he talks about the manufacturing strategy and the business model he's defending from time to time on the stump, talking about mitt

romney, a model that gutted a bunch of manufacturing jobs down in south carolina. stay with us, panel james peterson, caroline held man and mike papantonio will be right back. newt gingrich pts latest ad paints mitt romney as an out of touch massachusetts liberal? a massachusetts liberal? who also speaks french. stay tuned. ♪ baby, baby, come along ♪ baby, baby, come along with me ♪ [ air horn blows ] ♪ i love you and i need you ♪ just to hug and squeeze you ♪ baby, why can't you see? [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. the fuel efficiency of a prius. ♪ well, baby, can't you see the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ come along with me i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip.

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>> welcome back to the ed show, thanks for watching tonight. with one week to go until the south carolina primary, newt gingrich isn't holding back. here is gingrich's latest ad

targeting front-runner mitt romney. >> what has massachusetts given us? a liberal governor who wanted us to believe he is strong on defense. a liberal senator who wanted us to believe he was a man of the people. and a massachusetts moderate who runs away from ronald reagan. >> look, i was an independent during the time of reagan-bush, i'm not trying to return to reagan-bush. >> romney donated to democrats, given the choice to vote in the democrat or republican primary, he chose the democrats, voting for a democrat instead of george bush. he raised taxes and offered mandated health care with taxpayer funded abortions, but now he tells us, trust me, i'm a conservative. massachusetts moderate mitt romney, he'll say anything to win, anything. and just like john kerry --. >> laissez bon temps roulez. >> he speaks french too.

>> but he's still a massachusetts moderate. and a massachusetts moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> that is something else. let's bring back dr. james peterson, lehigh university, caroline heldman, occidental college, and mike papantonio. in culturally conservative republican territory of south carolina, that ad hit it out of the park. dr. peterson, what do you think? >> so many problems with the ad. one, we should not be disrespecting the legacy of senator kennedy, that sickens me. also senator kerry, is a war her hero, the idea by virtue of speaking french somehow you're not american or somehow you are not sort of consistent with the principles of the people of south carolina and this country, all the things in there are sad you're right, ed, unfortunately, this will have some impact and will directly impact the ways in which folks think about mitt romney in south carolina. >> professor heldman your

thoughts on the ad. we're talking about the cultural conservative attitude of republicans in south carolina. compare that with like would jim demint like an ad like that? i think so, what do you think? >> well, i find it interesting they are aligning him with john kerry, of course using the speaking french, trying to make him aristocratic, john kerry engaged in sports and i find it fascinating they're going after romney the same way. i think it might work, there are working class voters in the south. they left the democratic party and joined the republican party because of racism, because they didn't like the stances of the democratic party in the 1960's and onward. i think that will resonate with a lot of working class folks who don't like the aristocratic nature of speaking french and

the feminizing of speak french. >> rick perry had another memory lapse today, let's look at it. >> how many federal departments would you get rid of and which ones when you're elected president? >> three right off the bat, commerce, interior and energy. three you think of right off the bat. >> previously he said the three agencies are commerce, energy and education, not interior. mike, is he ready for prime time? he hasn't improved too much, has he? >> well, you know, in the deal with the mannequin, it wasn't clear who had the emptiest head, perry or the mannequin, he called on the mannequin during the press conference, the truth is this, the wheel is spinning but there is no hamster at home. his campaign is basically over. even the staunchest perry people right now are saying he is walking the political green mile because he simply does not have the intellect to make it through the next --. here is perry at the squat

and gobble restaurant earlier. here it is. >> i think we're going to answer a few questions, if that's all right. caton dauson, i thought this lady had her hand up over here. just kidding. best question i'll get. >> here is the person he was calling on, a mannequin in the restaurant. given perry's track record should he stay away from jokes like that? what do you think, dr. peterson? >> absolutely. this is a dead man walking. he's kind of a prop for what i was talking about the fragmentation of the conservative base, and the tea party, but does the tea party want this guy representing them nationally? >> good question. federal judge moving on will not add gingrich, huntsman and perry to the virginia ballot. professor heldman, this is going to matter, what do you think? >> i don't think it will matter. i think romney is the inevitable winner here, similar to what we saw in 2004. voters danced with a lot of

candidates, so far they have danced with cain, liked him, gingrich, santorum for a moment. i think at the end of the night they will go home with mitt romney. >> what are we going to see from these candidates in the upcoming week? mike, why doesn't newt gingrich come out and hammer, and i mean hammer the business record of mitt romney? he's right there in the breadbasket of the south where they have outsourced jobs, factories have been shut down, it would be so easy to make the case. why do you think newt gingrich would hold off on that at all? >> in back of newt's head i really do believe, ed, there is something if he plays nice he will get something out of this campaign. he's going to get an appointment, we know he won't be a vp candidate, maybe thinking he will get a cabinet position that will satisfy him. but truthfully, the train has left the station with this issue. genie is out of the bottle. newt is saying i want you to be

sure you edit the film i'm about to expose, romney being a corporate raider, somebody who steals jobs, somebody who takes all that money that he steals from those jobs and taxpayers and ships it oversees in offshore bank. the genie is out of bottle. newt can try, he might as well pile back on and ride this out because it won't mean anything to him in the end. he won't get any appointments. >> he wins south carolina, it's over, and even if he loses by a little bit, he has got infrastructure in florida and money is going to carry him it's probably going to be mitt romney. james peterson, caroline heldman, mike papantonio, great to have you with us. thank you. since stephen colbert is running for president, he's given his super pac to jon stewart. our country's financial campaign is broken. senator bernie sanders joins me on what we can do, next.

in tonight's big finish stephen colbert signs over his super pac to his buddy jon stewart so he could run for resident. i'm talk to vermont bernie sanders about campaign fundraising. the latest news and videos from the ed show, check out our blog at ed.msnbc.com. stay tuned. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm.

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pac scam is exposed for all its worth. since stephen colbert is now running for president of the united states, of south carolina, he is legally required to give up his super pac. he decided to transfer his super pac to his buddy jon stewart. colbert had his lawyer on set to advise him. >> i assume there's reams of complicated paperwork to be executed before we transfer the reins of power for something as critical to foundation of our democracy as a super pac? >> trevor? >> i brought the one document with me. >> i sign here. >> i see, very interesting. >> i believe you sign there. >> okay. i would be happy to do that. there is any sense -- how much money we have in this thing? as the guy who is running it. ahh! trevor, if you will, colbert

super pac transfer activate! >> pretty funny stuff but scary because it reflects our campaign finance system. when president obama spoke out against citizens united two years ago, you have to wonder if he envisioned it getting this bad this soon. >> with all due deference to separation of powers, last week the supreme court reversed a century of law that i believe will open the floodgates for special interests including foreign corporation to spend without limit in our elections. >> let's turn to vermont senator, independent senator bernie sanders. senator, if it takes the

ridiculous to get the attention of the american people it's a good thing. but it's a ridiculous system we have financing campaigns, that is a very telling piece of videotape the president speaking and sam alito the justice shaking his head against it. it's telling. how do we fix this, what is the impact of this? >> well, i tell you, ed, it's not just ridiculous, it's very, very dangerous and the constitutional amendment i offered to overturned citizens united is called saving american democracy and i think i'm not overstating the case. we are moving in a direction in which corporations not only will be able to spend as much money as they want, like they can today, in terms of ads, radio and television ads, but you're looking at the day when corporations will be able to provide as much money as they

want to individual candidates. so you're looking at a situation where the political process like every other commodity in america will be controlled by the wealthiest people in this country, that to a significant degree is a loss of american democracy as many of us understand that to be. >> how do the american people combat this in the election season? you can social network, you can boots on the ground, you can get the butcher the baker and candlestick maker to give $10, $5, but this really opens the floodgates for corporations to own the white house and the government. or is that an overstatement? >> no, that is absolutely not an overstatement. here's what i think we can do. i think there are some pieces of legislation that we should be voting on in the senate, in the house that could to some degree demin ish the horrendous impact, if i put an ad on television, as

the candidate, i have got to say i approve this piece of legislation. this advertisement. saying he or she approves that ad, if that is the case, trust me, these guys will not be running that many ads. second of all, we have to get foreign money, right now, you could have a company significantly owned by chinese interests, putting tv ads on for or against a candidate for the united states senate or house of representatives. does anybody think that makes sense? so there are short term approaches that we can utilize in order to diminish citizens united, long term in my view, we need to pass a constitutional amendment which overturns the absurd supreme court decision that says a corporation is a person.

interestingly, ed, i was pleased to see john mccain, whom i do not usually agree with, regarded citizens united just stated the other day that citizens united was one of the worst decisions he has ever seen,i think he's right. >> i was going to ask you, is there any momentum building on the other side of the aisle, are this any republicans out there that see how damaging this is, in taking the voice away from the little guy in this country? that's what made america great is that we had voices heard from all sides and from all parts of society, and now they are being squashed and now of course you have newt gingrich squawking about it during this campaign. it would seem to me that somebody would see the light, even on the republican side. >> well, maybe mccain has opened that door. he was strong in his statement calling it one of the worst decisions he has ever seen. and i tell you something, in my view, i think it is not just progressives or democrats who regard the